Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen follows the continuing adventures of those wacky Autobots and Decepticons as they continue their intergalactic battle for stuff. The Autobots are now working for the U.S. government (which never did Superman any good) as they hunt down their enemies around the globe. They're up to something, but what? Convienetly there seems to be yet another power source on earth even grater than the Hellraiser cube that was fried in the first film. Throw in everyone else from the first film (except Jon Voight) and you get a trans continental action-adventure that is choke full of those Transformers that we played with as kids.
Now I know there's a lot of bashing being thrown at this movie. I'll be the first to admit that it's far from perfect, though it is understandable that all of the government backed Transformers are disguised as government backed automobiles. The acting sucks. All around. No way around it. Don't want to get into it. And of course Michael Bay's direction is like smashing a Playstation 3 game and a car commercial into one. There's no soul in it.
But what is Transformers 2? I had someone explain it to me very short, sweet, and to the point. "It's about fighting robots from the '80's," he said. And for some unknown reason it made the movie better. This isn't Bergman, Kubrick, or Scorsese. This is pure, brain dead entertainment. It's junk food for the brain. It's the cinematic equivalent of cotton candy. And when you look at it like that it works. It's entertaining! I honestly liked it better than the first one because it goes right into the ass kicking. Sure it's predictable as hell, but you still sit there watching the mayhem and loving every minute of it.
Sometimes your mind needs potato chips too.
Considering that Public Enemies stars two of the biggest actors in movies and its directed by Michael Mann, who brought us that masterpiece called Heat, the film is a disappointment. The film follows John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) as he becomes public enemy number one and gets the VIP treatment from the infant FBI in the form of Special Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale). Along the way Dillinger falls in love with a coat check girl (Marion Cotillard), robs some banks, gets shot at, repeat. Which is the main problem with Public Enemies- it's just running in circles chasing its tail. Imagine The Godfather or Good Fellas if the entire film was shooting and getting shot at. There's plenty of gravy, but no meat in this film. It just sits there and presents itself without any real plot movement. You would think with the size of the production and the names associated with it they could have made something better than a History Channel special, but that's about all you get with this one- just with better actors.Which is what salvages the film somewhat. Depp is very good as John Dillinger and throws off the swagger of someone that the entire nation is trying to capture and kill, but they just can't get it right. Is he our generations Brando? Maybe. Bale is also good as Purvis, yet he's underused. His character tends to appear when needed and disappears when there's no need for him. Marion Cotillard tends to steal the film, though. She definitely outshines Bale and tends to one up Depp on several occasions. Who knew in a paint by numbers gangster film like this one that the female lead would be the highlight, but she is.You have to wonder what Michael Mann was thinking since he not only directed this but had a hand in writing the script, which as I said earlier is equal to an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. There's no flair in the script and none in the direction either. Mann, who has wowed us with his shootouts in other films, gives us action sequences that are not as spectacular as things I've seen on You Tube. Could he be losing his touch, especially after that bastardization called Miami Vice?
